It is kind of funny that all of our stories start out “when I was a little girl...”. I’m no exception. So here goes.

When I was a little girl, I was always into drawing and painting––just creating in general. I lived for art class. l loved learning about different media, how they worked and what you could do to push their limits. Math and science REALLY were not my thing. I even liked shop class (that’s right, electric, wood and metal shop) because it gave me the opportunity to work in media that wasn’t considered “art”. I think this is were I get my interest in the technical aspects of what I do.

I attended the Maryland Institute College of Art were I studied Graphic Design and Illustration. Since graduation I've been working at an architecture firm in the field of environmental graphics, which as it turns out is a mix of signage design, sculpture and interior design as it pertains to architecture. Who knew. I’ve been fortunate enough to have had the opportunity to travel the world and see places I would never have seen before if it wasn’t for my given career path.

It is this large scale 3-D work that re-sparked my interest in jewelry design and the opportunity to build something that can be interacted with on a personal scale. I started taking classes and really enjoyed being able to fabricate my own designs and work with the materials myself rather than turning it over to a sign fabricator... plus, I get to play with a torch which is really cool.

It’s kind of funny but I truly believe that all we experience in life influences what we do. I feel like I am coming full circle to where I started. My love of art has translated into an exciting career where I get to travel to exotic places and design things that get built (by the way, this is where those shop classes came in handy). Now I get to make jewelry, my long time childhood obsession. Luckily, my husband (Steve) has been very supportive of my new hobby, he even tolerates me being in "the man cave".

All that I have seen and experienced on my travels has effected the way I see the world and incorporate those experiences into my designs. I look forward to the challenges of making that next piece which is a step beyond the last. Always moving forward learning new techniques and ways to manipulate the materials pushing them a little further each time... in some cases making some really horrible mistakes that you’ll never see but I’ll learn from.